Into The Vale of Shadows // Max Mayfield

III; v. dead person walking

chapter five
dead person walking

     THE SUN HAS already set, and now the moon sat proud. The sky was filled with clouds that hung low, hiding the moon, the stars, and the ground for those that strolled on it. The trees stood tall, dancing with the wind and laughing to its folks. The road still, cold and empty, as it wait for the next oassers by.

     Raven sat by the window, watching the trees dance as they rolled by. She looked far and beyond, with her ears empty and her mind blank. Her peers chatted around her, arguing as they always do. She dared not to join and removed her aid, a waste of breath to speak if there's nothing important to say.

     The car had gone deeper into the highway, the trees doubled in amount and size, and the fog had gone slightly thicker. Raven yawned, letting her head rest on the glass window, not minding the way her head vibrated as they went. Soon, the car has passed by a familiar figure. Raven sprung up, following the cycling girl with her vision. Raven saw her face and recognized it to be Amanda, her features now contoured with confusion, wondering as to why the girl had gone all the way here at this time of the night.

     Not long later, they've arrived at their destination. Exiting the car with flashlights of their own, looking out in the uneasy surroundings. Raven fixed her aid to her ear, tugging onto her jacket before she followed after Dustin who walked towards the house without secind thoughts.

     As though second nature, Raven walked beside Max, feeling the girl shiver near her. Raven looked and was about to offer Max her jacket when the red head pulled out another jacket from her bag. Raven pursed her lips and nodded with a small smile, leading the two of them as they followed the other three.

     Dustin rang the door bell, looking blankly at the door before ringing it again and again and again. "Okay. Well, that's settled. I guess he's not here."

     Then Dustin started knocking on the door, banging to it as he yelled, "Eddie! It's Dustin!"

     "Great," said Steve.

     "Look, we just want to talk, okay?" As Dustin talked to the door, Robin had started walking around, peering through the windows with her flashlights. Raven and Max saw and did the same. "No cops, I swear. We just wanna help." Then he knocked again. "Eddie!" Rang the bell multiple times then knocked. "Rick!" He knocked again and again, yelling loud that Raven was starting to plan to mutilate him if he keeps going. "Reefer Rick!"

     "Don't scream that," said Steve.

     "Rick!" He knocked harder that it looked like his knuckles are hurting.

     "He's not there."

     "Reefer Rick!"

     "No one's here, Dusty," Raven stated based on what she've seen through the window.

     "Maybe we just gotta knock harder. You know? He could just be really high." He yet again banged at the door.

     "Is that a foot?" asked Steve.

     "No, that's a shoe."

     "Hey, guys!" Max called. Raven turned her head fast that it seemed like her neck cracked, quick to walk to Max as soon as she called. From where they were looking, there was a shed near by the lake, with a light illuminating its entrance.